Category: FZ-09

What a wild ride the past few days.

Kind of a sidebar, but I recently picked up a WR250R to romp around the trails with. The Electric Kitten (Tiger 1050) is a fine bike, but it doesn’t handle off-pavement exploring very well. It usually ends with session of ‘rub my belly whilst I lay on my side, you silly bloke’. I don’t recommend this game – it’s little more than a trap. In the least, the WR will be easier to hoist back onto it’s rubbery paws.

I had delusions of grandeur about taking this thing to the track for a couple sessions. She came with SM wheels, so it seemed like a logical thing to do before re-clawing it. Spent about four hours getting the bike track-ready and took it out for a rip. After stopping for a bite to eat, I returned to a dead fuel pump. Yay! I didn’t know Yamaha’s played this game. Maybe the fuel pump is British. Of course, adding the retrieval and cursing process to the day transformed afternoon into evening, and eventually, complete and utter darkness. Just in time to ready the FZ. It never fails. A Stoltec track day isn’t legit unless it’s preceeded by preparations long after midnight. It’s nothing if not consistent.

If you don’t count the forgotten SD card, the gas jug that blew off the trailer when a strap failed, and a leaky brake fitting, the day went pretty well. Wait, a leaky brake fitting? Yes, you read that right. The 100 mile test ride wasn’t enough to test the bleeder’s seal on the R6 master cylinder, but the 35 mile trailer ride to the track was. Don’t ask, because I’m not sure. Long story short, I should have known better. I had a GSXR master cylinder cry me a river a few years back who’s only remedy was teflon tape. Thankfully, my pit neighbor had bit left in his toolbox. Apparently, his was a pisser too (the week before). And to think the seat is supposed to do the sealing…thanks Brembo!

All in, the track weekend was amazing. If you’re in the NE, I highly recommend coming out to Pocono S/E and giving it a whirl. I’m begging.

The best part of the weekend was the lack of tinkering on my behalf. The chassis geometry was set, along with the suspension and tire pressures. Without the ‘need’ to tweak the setup, I was free to enjoy the bike in it’s purest form: at redline from corner to corner. Despite the (still) low pegs and the wide clubmans, I finally ditched the stock peg feelers. Incidentally, the stock feelers touched down before the rear tire reached the edge (about 1-2 mm left). Before you try this at home, keep in mind that I’m running Dunlop Q3’s and non-stock chassis geometry. Be that as it may, I was able to comfortably figure out the knee-down body positioning. My short legs make me work for it, but at least I’m able to gauge lean angle now. It’s been a lot of work to get the setup right for my riding style, but it’s finally in the ballpark. More like the infield. Very pleased.

Oh, and the brakes? This was the missing piece during the past few track days. Although the stock master cylinder was more than capable, the feel from the R6 m/c continues to impress me. For the money, it’s really a no-brainer. By comparison, I did a session on a brand new 636 on Sunday. While very good, it’s brakes lacked the feel of the modded-FZ. The FZ gives excellent feedback, trail braking right to the apex. Yes, the tires and suspension also play a huge role here…but the point is the bike WORKS. I was hitting low 120’s down the back straight and brakes never failed to impress. I’m eager to try out the Pocono FUSA course with its high speed straights and banking. Although we’re still sitting at 132 mph, it will be a good test. Who knows…maybe R6 rotors will round out the front brake conversion.

In all of the Go Pro woes, the useful footage was limited. We’re left with only a short piece of the Sunday’s final session. Sorry – I’ll do better next time.

Had some free time today so I decided to tackle another aesthetic project: Lupus integrated tail light. I’m not typically a fan of integrated tail lights from a safety perspective; I find most place the signals too close to the tail/brake light and they can be hard to make out. Also, most aftermarket boards and LEDs just don’t have the ‘oomph’ that I’d like my lights to have. After all, that is one of the few ways to communicate to drivers behind you. You know, the ones who can easily run you over and turn you into another greasy stain on the highway. But I digress. The Lupus light looked pretty good and I like supporting the forum. So…

I’m going to preface all of this by saying I’m nit-picky and anal. Don’t read anything more into this than that. The new board has four fewer LEDs than the stocker. As you can see in the photo, there is enough room for another turn signal on each side and one more tail/brake light. Lupus told me they were hoping to maintain good separation/distinction between the red and amber. A valid concern, but I’m not sure it’d be an issue here. I’d really enjoy more lights. Also, the new board has white lettering on the front of the board, whereas the stock board is only marked on the backside. Small point of contention, but you [I]can[/I] see the markings once installed. Again, nit-picky…

As you can see, I opted for the board so I can have the enjoyment of dismantling my own tail light assembly. Unless I’m mistaken, they offer the tail light pre-assembled, so if you’re looking to cut some time off the install, check their services out. Now that said, splitting the tail light is easy. If you’ve every cracked a headlight open, this is a cake walk; the light is smaller and the adhesive is nice and gooey. A ~220 degree oven does the trick. The old light comes out easily and is pretty self explanatory. No pictures here because I know it’s been documented elsewhere.

Reassembly is pretty straight-forward, but if you opt to reuse the factory grommet, you’ll need to turn those three wire pass-thrus into one large hole. A razor blade and a drill press made short order of this. However, you’ll need to de-pin the tail/brake connector (3 pin) before passing the wires through. Fortunately, this is an easy connector to de-pin. The turn signals, however, are another matter. Possible, but not easy. I was able to squeeze the turn signal connectors thru the grommet, but it took the aid of some P80 emulsifier. One tidbit of advice, though. Pass the wires through the back of the housing BEFORE the grommet. There is no good way to seat the grommet from the inside. DAMHIK. Also, cut those zip ties off the leads so you can slide the wires through the grommet.

As pleased as I am that the tail light included factory connectors for a clean installation, I’d prefer if the connectors came uninstalled. This would make the wires MUCH easier to slide through the grommet and adding the connectors only take a minute or two. Also, I would have liked the tail/brake connector to be in the same location as the factory light. As you can see from the picture, the new board puts the connector on the opposite side (left versus right) which abandons the nice little connector cavity in the housing.

The board mounted easily, albeit slightly crooked.

It turns out that the mounting holes were slightly askew, lending to an interference between an LED and mounting screw.

Of course, you can’t tell it’s crooked once buttoned up. Back in the oven for a few minutes, and all is well.

Now is a good time to finish with saying that the light output is AMAZING. I’ll be honest – I wasn’t expecting OEM-like light output, but this delivers! As much as I’ll miss the dual running lights, the new tail is bright and highly visible, even in direct sunlight. Same with turn signals; bright, distinct amber that stands out. I personally have no concerns about rearward visibility (well, more than usual). So, aside from a few installation hiccups, the light is good. Very happy with this and happy to support some other forum members. Nice job, guys.

Prior to our last track outing in May, I swapped out the stock GG front pads for the EBC HH. Bedded them in on the track and was quite pleased once they were broken in. Definitely more aggressive initial bite, but stopping power is nicely progressive. Braking deeper into corners was much easier and trail braking was more controllable. But, as good as the brakes were, there was still a bit of ‘faith’ left in the sequence of events. I don’t want to misrepresent this as poor performance; it was quite good, actually. Rather, there just wasn’t enough feel in the lever to really know what was going on at the contact patch. Having done a good day on the new pads, it was time to upgrade the master cylinder.

There are a lot of options out there to choose from. Retrofitting a stock radial master cylinder from an existing bike, or full-on aftermarket. While I would have loved to use a top of the line Magura or Brembo with additional adjustment, I decided to do the retrofit route for a few reasons: a cost-conscious upgrade that customers might benefit from, availability of aftermarket levers, and general parts supply. The R1/R6 master cylinder won out, primarily due to the bore size. The 16 mm R6 piston is 1 mm larger than the stock FZ-09 master cylinder. This jump alone yields 6-7% less hydraulic leverage (with a corresponding 6-7% less travel). Mechanical leverage (distance between pivot and plunger) is equal. Jumping to something like a GSXR Nissin (19 mm piston) would provide an astounding 27% hydraulic leverage decrease. That’s a pretty big jump!

R6 master cylinders fetch top dollar on eBay. You might get lucky and find a deal, but most are priced more than what you can buy new from one of the online parts resellers…and you’re stuck with the possibility of crash damage or unknown seal condition. Adding it all up, and buying new makes the most sense.

The new master cylinder was matched up with some new ASV ‘unbreakable’ levers: shorty on the brake, long on the clutch. Made in USA and the levers pivot away from the bar an amazing amount to minimize the risk of damage during a drop or crash.

You’re going to need a new brake line for the radial master cylinder, regardless of which handlebars you’re using. Radial master cylinders discharge from the bottom whereas cross pumps discharge from the front. The line that arrived yesterday from Spiegler fit perfectly (first attempt!), so we’ll have a kit offering for the clubmans w/ radial by next week. You’ll also have to figure out the mount for the reservoir. I’ve made plenty of brackets for these swaps in the past, but stumbled upon a better solution. Woodcraft makes an economically priced clamp that slides over the handlebar. All you need to do is slide it on and cut your hose.

These will be added to site, as well. Wish I found this years ago!

Aesthetically speaking, the slim reservoir, master cylinder, and levers really clean up the look:

But most importantly, the increased stopping power and feel is just what the doctor ordered! Confident single finger braking, with enough feel to understand what’s really going on under that tire. The FZ-09 now stops like a proper sportbike. I’ll be at Pocono next weekend for a couple days, so more feedback will be coming soon. I still have a set of CL pads I’d like to test out, so I’ll likely get those bedded in this week before heading to the track. Very pleased with this brake setup.

Some of the more observant readers might notice the new grips. Put a set of Progrip 699BK on in an attempt to kill some vibes. Despite the bar end mirrors and weights, I get a really nasty buzz in the bar during sustained cruising in the ~5k RPM region. So many things have changed on this bike that I honestly can’t pinpoint what did it (or how much each of the changes contributed to the net effect). But, it is bad enough that my right hand goes numb after about an hour, especially in cooler temps. The left hand gets a good buzz, but it doesn’t have the amplitude of the right to numb the hand. Shifting gears relocates the resonance from one point to another; on the track, I’ve finished every session with numb toes. Today’s ride was short, so it’s too soon to say if the grips worked. But, about 30 minutes of flogging ended with no numbness. Fingers crossed (I think…).

You guys probably thought I forgot about some of these projects…but such is not the case! Been busy with other work, but the FZ has not been led out to pasture.

Finally got around to swapping out the front turn signals a few weeks ago. The motivation was two fold: get rid of the ugly pumpkins, and free up a few watts by eliminating the running lights. The heated pants, jacket, and gloves need all the help they can get…

The signals are CNC Racing “Bombs”. E stamped, but no DOT. They are decently bright, even in daylight. Not quite as noticeable as the stockers, but they are better than any flushmount I’ve seen. I have a couple ideas floating around to increase front signal visibility further, but that is low on the priority list at the moment.

Side by side:

Both installed:

Now that the front is cleaned up, I’ll move onto the rear. Easy does it with these mods. We might have the tail cleaned up by spring 2015..

Decided to clean up a few areas ‘missed’ by Yamaha while the rest of the bike is apart. Pulled a few parts that will get dropped off with the powder coater on Monday.

For one, that damn shock linkage. They did so well on the overall color scheme of the bike compared to many others…but this thing glares at me everytime I look at it.

After carefully pulling the seals, I noticed this:

So, if you’re doing a shock, it’s a good idea to check this out.

Pressed out the bearings (and was greeted by one of the most awful smells I can remember):

Since the rearsets were off and the bike was hanging, decided it was a good idea to send this out, as well:

The only other thing that sticks out is the rear brake caliper carrier…so, yup, that’s going, too. The handlebars and steering stem yoke are going to be addressed when I do the bars.

Small pile, but will give me one less thing to catch my gaze.

Gave some thought to doing a different color wheel, but still torn on what color. So, that will wait…